A Hidden Crisis: Scammers Are Winning More Than Ever

Brandon Stallard • November 16, 2025

Americans 60+ lost $4.8 BILLION in 2024 from scams — a whopping 43% increase from 2023

Successful scams targeting Americans of all ages increased 33% in a single year, from 2023 to 2024, according to the Department of Justice’s Internet Crime Report released earlier this year.

Why? What changed to make scammers so successful? Reported scams are breaking records every year. So what are we doing about it? And why isn’t the public angrier about a crisis that’s accelerating right in front of us?

Coming of Age Boom

By 2050, the number of Americans aged 65 and older is expected to reach 82 million — a 42% jump from the 58 million older adults recorded in 2022. By 2034, older adults will outnumber children for the first time in U.S. history, according to the Census Bureau.

As we enter this new demographic era, older Americans are paying the price. Seniors accounted for 42% of all reported scam losses in 2024, a higher total loss than the <20, 20–29, 30–39, and 40–49 age groups combined.

As more loved ones age into retirement, we need to seriously ask ourselves: How do we protect their legacy?

The “Increased Reporting” Fallacy

Before we can protect ourselves — and those we love — we need to understand why scams targeting seniors have become so successful.

A common explanation is that “scams aren’t increasing; we’re just getting better at reporting them.” There is a grain of truth in that. But it ignores most of the picture.

According to the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3):
  • In 2018, seniors filed 62,085 complaints, reporting $649 million in losses.
  • In 2024, seniors filed 147,127 complaints, reporting $4.8 billion in losses.
That’s a 137% increase in complaints — but a 639% increase in losses. 

In 2023, the FTC estimated that when underreporting is factored in, Americans actually lost $158.3 billion to scams — not the small fraction we see in official reports. Up to $61.5 billion of that loss may have been suffered by older adults alone.

What Changed

So, I ask again - what changed to make scam attempts so successful? Here are my thoughts: 

  1. Dominating Remote Culture - Even before the pandemic, more of our everyday life was already moving online. COVID-19 sped that up. Suddenly, people were handling medical appointments, grocery orders, banking, and even basic government tasks through a screen or a phone call. The Social Security Administration stopped offering walk-in appointments for years. All of this pushed more people into digital interactions, and that shift created more openings for scammers to take advantage of.

  2. Two Words: Data Breaches -  Scammers now have access to more personal information than ever before. They pull details from data breaches and use them to make scams sound personalized and believable. The 2017 Equifax breach exposed information on 143 million Americans — about 44% of the country from one incident. When you add smaller breaches from medical offices, schools, utilities, and local businesses, it’s reasonable to believe that most Americans have had their information compromised at least once.

  3. The Rise of AI - Artificial Intelligence is changing the world - organizations across all sectors are implementing the technology to increase efficiency, cut costs, and customize content. Scammers are increasingly using AI to find similar benefits - from mass producing written correspondence, to generating voice and video clones of a person's likeliness, AI has lowered the ante to play, making scams more believable, and dangerous. 


Best Tool Against Scams = Prevention 

Scams have a devasting impact on not just the victims, but the loved ones and caregivers in their communities. No matter how smart we are, it takes just one moment to compromise our financial wellbeing. The best protection against scams is prevention. In order to prevent scams from happening, we focus on a few key tools: 

  • Education & Awareness - Scams change constantly. New technology, world events, and data leaks all shape the tactics scammers use. Staying aware of current trends is one of the strongest defenses we have.

  • Speedy Response - If a scam succeeds, speed matters. The sooner someone acts, the higher the chance of limiting further damage and, in some cases, recovering lost funds.
    • Once money is gone, recovery is extremely difficult. Only law enforcement and your financial institutions can help — never trust a company that claims they can “get your money back.”

  •  Community & Support - In many conversations we’ve had, people who avoided a scam often credited someone in their community — a family member, friend, caregiver, or even a local advocacy group — for helping them spot the warning signs. Having someone to check in with makes a difference.